Sharpen your psychological and physiological self by training like a professional athlete in our unique training facility, designed and developed by your personal trainer Aubrey.
Our custom, in person strength & conditioning and online program offerings, including boxing, kickboxing, strength & conditioning, and functional training. Its always just you, your trainer, and the whole gym. No sharing space, queueing for equipment, or your trainer’s attention.
Boxing HIIT
Tiger Athletic provides the most effective boxing instruction, conditioning the body for optimal results through our unique approach. The client is assessed, treated, and trained as a professional boxer to ensure the highest standards of technical and physical performance. It’s just you, your coach, and the gym. Absolute Privacy. Let’s Work.
Each class consists of 12 rounds, with 2 warm-up rounds, 4 bag rounds, 4-floor rounds, and 2 core rounds. Burn upwards of 1,000 calories in our World Title classes! It doesn’t matter how bad in shape you think you are or who you are. A former athlete, young professional, stay-at-home-parent, or retiree, for 45 minutes a day you can fight for a world title.
Tiger Athletic provides the most effective boxing instruction, conditioning the body for optimal results through our unique approach. The client is assessed, treated, and trained as a professional boxer to ensure the highest standards of performance. It’s just you, your coach and the gym. Absolute privacy. Let’s Work.
Kick. Lift. Box.
A unique combination class consisting of high-intensity interval training, dynamic speed, agility, and cardio conditioning drills. Stimulate all your major muscles Ignite the strength and power while burning upwards of 700 calories. 12 x 3 minute rounds over 45 minutes and you’ll be right on track in achieving that lean and toned physique. A Kick-Lift-Box workout is made up of karate kicks and boxing routines and punches for heart-pumping cardio with strength and conditioning.
Tiger Athletic provides the most effective boxing instruction, conditioning the body for optimal results through our unique approach. The client is assessed, treated, and trained as a professional boxer to ensure the highest standards of performance. It’s just you, your coach, and the gym. Absolute privacy. Let’s Work.
Power Boxing
A modern, full-body workout, a pairing of best boxing practices with strength and conditioning exercises. This 45-minute boxing class, will develop your technical boxing skills and teach you various functional movement patterns that will transform your physique.
Tiger Athletic provides the most effective boxing instruction, conditioning the body for optimal results through our unique approach. The client is assessed, treated, and trained as a professional boxer to ensure the highest standards of performance. It’s just you, your coach and the gym. Absolute privacy. Let’s Work.
World Title Boxing
The pre-eminent 60-minute strength and conditioning boxing class, combining the best elements of both our Boxing HIIT and Power Boxing programs. This 60-minute sweat session will challenge athletes of all levels, getting you in the best shape of your life, while empowering you with the confidence of a champion.
Tiger Athletic is the future of fitness. A modern approach to fitness, a private gym where sessions are strictly by appointment. You never share equipment, workout space, or your trainer. Sessions are completely private, in fact, it’s just you and your trainer on the floor during your appointment. Training equipment is sanitized before and after every workout, that’s every hour!
Tiger Athletic is a modern, science-based exercise experience, unrivaled in workout quality, strength & conditioning equipment, and coaching. We ensure the highest training and hygiene standards with no joining or cancellation fees. Let’s workout.
Working out with a personal trainer in a modern, private,
appointment only gym is the gold standard method of reaching your weight loss
and wellness goals, we all know this, however the reality for most people
is that as great as having a Personal Trainer is, it’s simply too expensive for
some in our present economic climate…..or is it?
We all have an image in our hearts and minds of what the best
version of ourselves looks like. Tiger Athletic offers an authentic workout
experience for those who want to learn how to achieve that vision with our
strength and conditioning program, while getting in the best shape of your life
in a high-intensity small group fitness setting.
Join our close-knit fitness community with morning, mid-day and early evening classes to suit every diary. Build the strength, confidence and passion needed to realise your dream body with great people and industry leading personal training.
Developed as a result of a rigorous education in Coaching Science, over two decades of boxing, martial arts and high-performance strength and conditioning training as an athlete, Tiger Fit provides the most effective group fitness and conditioning workout in the market with each class capped at 8 people to retain the personal training attention that is at the centre of our workout philosophy.
Each session is run like a championship boxing match, consisting of a 3-minute dynamic warm-up followed by 12 x 3 minute ’rounds’ comprising of 12 strength and conditioning exercises, for a total body workout. Each round is 3 minutes of all out action with 1 minute of active rest and hydration between rounds for the best in class workout experience.
Burn upwards of 1,000 calories per class whether you are a working professional, a home executive or looking for a new challenge to get you to your dream body, for 50 minutes a day you can train like a professional athlete in a modern, private, appointment only gym with a world class trainer and not break the bank at R 400 per month!
Tiger Athletic is a modern, private, appointment only gym with a personal trainer for every session. Revolutionise your present workout regime or find a new way to sweat with us. We have you and your pocket covered to tone and shape your body to new levels of excellence.
In shape, out of shape, haven’t trained for years or a complete beginner, our clients are trained as individuals by intensley trained trainers. Its always you, a training partner and your coach in our off peak fitness and weight loss classes run on the hour every hour between 9am and 4pm weekdays.
Our personal trainers are trained to cater for every spectrum of physical ability, we assess your genetic potential, present state of health and goals, then train you to realize your potential in modern, effective and fun 60 minute sessions. All you need is the right attitude and the desire to do your best. Leave the rest to us. Your success begins with your willingness to try.
Tiger Athletic is Sandton’s premier private gym. Sessions with our industry lading personal trainers are strictly by appointment, our signature fitness and weightloss program combine thorough sport science assessments, strength and conditioning and kickboxing in our state-of-the-art private gym.
Superior Instruction
Your personal trainer holds multiple black belts in karate, is a coaching science graduate with years of competitive and coaching experience and train hard every day to stay current with the latest and most effective developments in coaching science, nutrition and strength & conditioning programming.
We offer industry leading sport science assessment and instruction, you can expect unparalleled results. No matter what shape you’re in, our aim is to make sure you reach your goal while having so much fun that you won’t realize you’re getting the workout of your life…until you look in a mirror.
The ‘Total’ Workout
Fun, high-quality instruction makes learning easy, interesting and fun. You’ll be so engaged you won’t even notice that you’re burning 700 -1200 calories in every class.
Preferred Service Provider
As a private client you’ll be in great company. We train the hardest period. Tiger Athletic has been the training system of choice for many senior executives in Sandton’s top banks and law firms, law enforcement officials, professional athletes, educators, and fitness enthusiasts.
Results
Amazing fitness results, increased energy levels and constant improvement will keep you motivated and looking forward to each workout. You will gain endurance, muscle, and flexibility at the same time, every time. Plus, you get the added benefit of learning to move, kick and punch the right way, on bags and pads so you stay injury free and walk with extra confidence.
Practical Life Skills and Total Fitness
Increased self-discipline, focus, and confidence in everything you do. Muscular Development + Cardio Conditioning + Flexibility = Total Fitness.
Strength & Conditioning
Injury prevention is the most important reason to follow a strength and conditioning program. Our well-designed program will strengthen muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints, leading to fewer injuries in sport participation and life by addressing flexibility and strength deficits.
Every session targets every muscle in your body, helping you develop greater strength and muscular definition. Whatsoever your goal, you will get leaner, stronger and more flexible.
Cardio Conditioning
Through intense cardiovascular conditioning, punching, kicking, squatting, hinging, pushing, pulling and other primal movements you’ll expand the capacity of your heart and lungs while burning calories. The result, increased stamina to keep you energized all day.
Flexibility
In order to increase your range of motion, while protecting you from injury, we’ve incorporated stretching exercises to keep you feeling young and agile and active for life.
Practical Self Defence
We guarantee you will receive well-rounded, streetwise self-defence skills that work! To achieve this, we combine the greatest benefits of kickboxing and sports science with a highly educated approach in a state of the art strength and conditioning facility.
Kickboxing incorporates the most effective hand, knee, elbow, and foot techniques for an intense cardio workout. This method of defence enables you to protect yourself in stand-up confrontations before an attacker gets close enough to physically restrain you.
Key to Success
It’s easy to want to be in shape, it’s not so easy to find the motivation to go to a health club regularly, or the dedication to run on a treadmill or cycle after or during a long day, it’s not easy. Almost any workout done consistently will produce results, but not all workouts will give you the motivation to continuously train. In short, gym workouts are boring…so boring, in fact, that most people watch TV or stare at their smartphones to distract them from how slow the time goes by.
Tiger Athletic classes are motivating, exciting and fun. You’ll enjoy learning how to fight while training and getting into the best shape of your life. The combination of a fun workout, total body results and gaining the life-skill of self-defence is the ‘Total Workout’. This gives you three key reasons to take our classes. Finally, a fitness program you’ll be able to stick with and win!
Let’s Go!
Taking the first step is easy as contacting us below and starting is with a complimentary class on us!
For most of Sandton’s residents, a trip to the gym means waiting on line for machines and sharing the humid, dank air with dozens of sweaty people. For those who don’t want to stand in line for machines, trainers or parking there is Tiger Athletic, no membership or cancellation fees rather an appointment only policy that entitles clients to buy sessions with an intensely trained trainer.
Our gym is designed for private training only. No distractions. No crowds. Generous space. Workouts are supervised, charted, studied, and supplemented with nutritional advice and referrals to Sandton’s medical elite should it be necessary. Clients enjoy private showers and dressing rooms in spaces reserved only for you before and after your appointment.
Evaluate, customise, communicate. These three simple steps are at the core of every exercise regime for every Tiger Athletic client. Through a series of proprietary tests, we evaluate your current fitness level, review injuries or restrictions and set short, medium- and long-term training goals. Everybody is unique, so are our workouts. With your goals in mind, we capitalize on your strengths and coach you through your weaknesses. Together we listen to your body.
Tiger Athletic is a one of a kind fitness facility. Black rubber floor, white walls, plate loaded machines, boxing bags and no-frills dressing rooms. Membership is capped at between 50 to 60, chiefly Sandton’s tycoons and captains of industry. Aspiring clients who don’t seem motivated are encouraged to train elsewhere. After all, if you’ve made it to Tiger Athletic, you are someone who’s used to reaching your goals, and then some. No one leaves Tiger Athletic without a purple face and a better body.
The gym tends to be sparsely populated, as members are only permitted to turn up for training when they have an appointment; the locker rooms never have more than two people in them, in separate spaces at that. Tiger Athletic’s training philosophy employs exercises that are designed to increase balance and stability, strength and conditioning and several plate loaded Powercore machines are double-sided—one lever for each arm—in order to achieve greater symmetry and strength balance.
Clients here are evaluated by a trainer, and referred if necessary, to a Sports Medical Doctor, Doctor of Chiropractic, Physiotherapist or Registered Dietician, after which individual programs are prescribed by Aubrey Ndisengei, a Coaching Science graduate and Black Belt who founded Tiger Athletic in 2010.
Basic membership is ZAR 3025 for 10 x 1-hour long fitness sessions with no joining or cancellation fees. Enjoy discounted off peak rates up to 50% when you train between 9am and 4pm, with the flexibility of online training or pre designed, custom sessions to go for the frequent traveller. We are committed to your fitness, your comfort and your state of mind
Our trainers are the pulse of Tiger Athletic. They are here to rouse, rally and educate an equally energetic, intelligent, discerning clientele. We hire and retain state of the art trainers, drawn from the most respected exercise science programs. They possess exhaustive practical knowledge and are dedicated to the potential of body and mind
Finding a gym or a great workout in Sandton City can be just as overwhelming as seeking out a new restaurant or bar in the City of Gold, here, you’re seemingly spoiled for choice. Whether you’re looking to diversify your workout regime or find a new way to sweat, we have you covered to tone, shape, or maintain your already enviable frame in Sandton’s most progressive and exclusive gym.
Having a strong, fit and healthy body can really help you in packing everything you need to into your day. This is especially true for mums and mums to be with all the lifting, carrying, pushing and pulling that comes with the job! Whatever your situation, needing to lose a little weight and “tighten” up, new mums, mums with young kids or pregnant we provide modified workouts that maximise conditioning benefits while minimising injury risk.
Our qualified trainer designs safe, fun and innovative aerobic endurance workouts for improved cardiovascular fitness, as well as resistance training for increased musculoskeletal fitness in one on one or small group sessions depending on your need…. train on your own with your trainer, with a workout partner or best friend or in a small group of four!
We recommend that when
embarking on a weight loss exercise program or post-natal exercise
program, you play it safe and get the “all clear” from your health care
provider before hiring our qualified personal trainer. A correctly designed
exercise program with proper coaching that corrects, motivates and assesses you
can help you feel stronger and more energised, lose ‘baby weight’, correct
stress incontinence, improve tummy separation (diastasis) and your belly’s
appearance, and improve your posture.
Perhaps you’re a mum with older children and still feeling
the impact of birth years on or just wanting to shed some weight, look and
feel younger and give yourself a new lease of life, whatever your situation, Tiger
Athletic personal training has the right mixture of qualifications and experience
as an athlete and coach to safely and effectively strengthen your body with a
simple, effective strength and conditioning program.
Tiger Athletic Fitness & Conditioning is as appointment
only, strength & conditioning gym offering custom, personal trainer led
fitness solutions in a modern, private facility in the heart of Sandton. Your
preparticipation health screening and goals are the foundation and corner stone
of the efficient, effective 50-minute workouts.
There is no time like the present especially when it comes to gaining control over your health and lifestyle after an indulgant festive holiday. We’d like to make your fitness goals a reality in 2019. Become a new client and book 10 fitness sessions for January in December and get up to a 50% cash back to spend as you please!
Tiger Athletic is a private, appointment only strength and conditioning gym in the heart of Sandton. We offer a modern approach to fitness using exercise and nutrition programs based on your health assessment and goals.
We use our personal trainer and modern, state-of-the-art equipment, to provide you with a structured, action-oriented exercise and nutrition solution, improving fitness and appearance, reducing health risks and promoting healthy behavior through extraordinary 50 minute workouts that are simple, efficient and effective.
Our entire approach is designed around you as an individual, your unique physique, capabilities and goals. We assess, motivate, educate and coach you towards your personal goals in a professional and supportive environment.
Our assessment procedure and expert medical network ensure that you are looked after in the best possible way. Ensuring health first and lots of fun while you work towards your dream aesthetic.
Together changes everything. Let’s chat about your health?
Your law office is only as healthy as your team members. If you find merit in this statement, you may also find merit in implementing a wellness plan within your firm. The legal profession is notorious for its prevalence of poor physical and mental health. The unique pressures of the modern legal environment leaves lawyers significantly more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety than other professionals.
A successful wellness plan establishes resources to help your attorneys and staff members maintain optimal physical, mental, and emotional wellness. A successful wellness program requires a partner skilled in thoughtful development and execution. This short paper aids that process, providing some tips on implementing a wellness program within your law office.
Why?
The mental and physical health of your team members is vital long term, aiding increased periods of peak performanc. A strategically aligned plan directly impacts the success of your legal practice in numerous ways:
It takes time to build an effective team of skilled attorneys and reliable support staff. You put in the effort to attract them to the firm – why not put in the effort to keep them there? Wellness programs help bolster employee satisfaction by providing tools that employees find useful in their professional and personal lives. Health screenings empower employees to stay on top of their physical wellness. Custom personal training, nutrition programs and office exercise programs encourage physical activity. Flexible work schedules send the message that it’s okay for employees to take time for themselves. Each of these resources provides value that increases team member satisfaction and long-term productivity.
It’s not necessary to beat your employees over the head with demands for healthier living. We can help your firm to develop a ‘culture of wellness’. Data from our assessment designs modern lifestyle programs that become engrained in the fabric of the law office, where attorneys and staff members are consistently exposed to healthier options and opportunities. As stated in the Harvard Business Review article How to Design a Corporate Wellness Plan that Actually Works, “It is first and foremost about creating a way of life in the workplace that integrates a total health model into every aspect of business practice, from company policies to everyday work activities.”
Combine, a culture of wellness with satisfied employees and you get increased productivity. Healthy employees are happier at work and play, are more efficient and are more effective in their execution of targets. There is a large percentage reduction in illness related absenteeism and team members can think clearer and communicate better because they are not going through the day exhausted and feeling overwhelmed. We effectively implement employee wellness programs that directly result in more productive teams translating into higher profits for your firm.
How?
It’s more than just starting a weight loss program or offering an incentive to quit smoking. Our assessments provide data that highlights the areas for physiological development that would most contribute to peak mental and physical performance. A short, in depth health and lifestyle questionnaire achieves the first step. These assessments are essential for determining where your team members find challenges and concerns both in their professional and personal lives.
Data from assessments is used to create personalised wellness plans. Common issues among your team members are also identified, this data is used to create the inhouse component of the program.
Smoking Cessation
Strength & Conditioning
On-Site Exercise Solutions
Short-Term Health Challenges
Communication.
Team members need to know that you have implanted a wellness program and what it entails. The framework of the plan is laid out with the appropritae mix of short video and face to face engagement is laid out at greater lenghth via targeted email. The goal is to create a create a culture of wellness.
Opinions are split on the issue of incentives and milestones for employee participation in wellness plans. According to the Harvard Review article, financial incentives have not been proven effective for long-term behavioural changes.
In fact, they may even foster some resentment and ill-feelings among team members. Instead, use team-based incentives to build camaraderie and encourage support among employees like competitions where strategic teams work as a unit to meet specific health goals. These options are more effective for creating a community of support, which leads to long-term changes.
Personal SMART goals are next. Quartely screenings provide data that demonstrates the development of the perticipant. Quarterly surveys, evaluate their participant impressions. Our wellness plans are never static, each team and team situation are unique, so there is always room for change and enhancements.
Whether you are a mid-sized law firm, a small practice or inhouse department with only a few members, a wellness plan can be of great assistance to your employees and the firm. It takes a bit of effort, but the result is more than worth it.
Tiger Athletic Fitness & Conditioning is a modern, private, appointment only strength & conditioning gym in the heart of Sandton. Our custom exercise programs stem from personalised assessments, strength & conditioning, motivation and education.
You can’t readily see your back in the mirror however, NEVER skip back in your workouts. A sculpted back always looks however back exercises have a deeper impact, too, as a strong back keeps your posture pristine and facilitates a healthy spine.
Most folk love to work the ‘show’ muscles’. These “mirror” muscles are the ones you flex in your reflection to prove you’re looking good, usually, your chest, biceps, fronts of the shoulders, quads and abs. No part of your physique is more important than the other. You to develop your back muscles, particularly the latissimus dorsi, rhomboids and traps to provide symmetry between the front and back of your body. Whatever your end goal or vision for your physique, back training is critical.
Exercises that are often used to build the superficial muscles of the back are:
Lat Pulldowns
Rows
Pull-ups
Pull-overs
Rear Flys
Neglecting the muscles that you can’t see front on in the mirror, particularly your back muscles, has negative structural consequences for your body. A weak back doesn’t have the musculature to prevent rounded shoulders, causing upper back, neck and shoulder pain, also reflecting in poor posture that says weak, timid or lazy.
Lower back pain is however a result of weak muscles of the middle and lower back. You develop support for the spine and pelvis another pain/injury prone area by strengthening the deeper muscles of the back, particularly the erector spinae, multifidus and quadratus lumborum, making running your park run, pressing a weight for developing the rest of your body, moving furniture, carrying groceries or twisting to pick up a toddler or pet, easy injury and pain free tasks
These functional back exercises address these stabilizing muscles:
Back extension
Plank holds
Bird dogs
Cobra lifts
Muscular balance is developed by working the muscles of the back in conjunction with the muscles of the front of your body, apart from making you a fully functional human being you are less likely to develop muscle/strength imbalances that increase the likelihood of injury while performing primal functions, i.e. hinging, squatting, lunging, bending and twisting.
For example, while working hard at crunching exercises to develop the aesthetics, function and strength of your abdominal muscles, you set yourself up for lower back pain if you fail to do a commensurate amount of work on your back muscles. The muscles of your abs become tight and strong because of too many crunches, and pull on your low back, causing pain and possible injury to the discs.
Tiger Athletic Fitness & Conditioning is a private, appointment only strength & conditioning gym in the heart of Sandton. Our personal trainers are health and fitness professionals who use an individualised approach to assess, motivate, educate and train clients. We design safe, effective, fun exercise solutions for the individual who is accustomed to personalised attention and a modern approach.
Your initial interview’ or first session, is to assess client – trainer compatibility, discuss goals and a client – trainer agreement. This includes the preparticipation health appraisal, essentially a questioneer to identify known diseases and “red flag” positive risk factors associated with heart disease, assess lifestyle factors that may require special considerations, and identify individuals who may require medical referral before starting an exercise program.
Tiger Athletic’s health first approach helps you reach your goals safely and effectively through health and fitness assessment, personalised coaching, modern resistance and cardio equipment, calisthenics and boxing to provide a pragmatic, extraordinary 50-minute workout that is simple, efficient and effective.
Pre – emptive training (alternately preventive medicine, preventative healthcare/medicine, or prophylaxis) consists of measures taken for disease prevention, as opposed to disease treatment. Just as health comprises a variety of physical and mental states, so do disease and disability, which are affected by environmental factors, genetic predisposition, disease agents, and lifestyle choices. Health, disease, and disability are dynamic processes which begin before individuals realize they are affected.
Annually, millions of people die of preventable deaths. About half of all deaths are due to preventable behaviours and exposures. Leading causes included cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, unintentional injuries, diabetes, and certain infectious diseases. Millions die each year due to poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle.
According to estimates made by the World Health Organization (WHO), about 55 million people died worldwide in 2011, two thirds of this group from non-communicable diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and chronic cardiovascular and lung diseases. This is an increase from the year 2000, during which 60% of deaths were attributed to these diseases.
Pre – emptive fitness assessment and training are especially important given the worldwide rise in prevalence of chronic diseases and deaths from these diseases, thus screening and risk assessment is the spine that supports all Tiger Athletic personal training programs.
There are many methods for prevention of disease. It is recommended that adults and children aim to visit their doctor for regular check-ups, even if they feel healthy, to perform disease screening, identify risk factors for disease, discuss tips for a healthy and balanced lifestyle, stay up to date with immunizations and boosters, and maintain a good relationship with a healthcare provider.
Some common disease screenings include checking for hypertension (high blood pressure), hyperglycaemia (high blood sugar, a risk factor for diabetes mellitus), hypercholesterolemia (high blood cholesterol), screening for colon cancer, depression, HIV and other common types of sexually transmitted disease such as chlamydia, syphilis, and gonorrhoea, mammography (to screen for breast cancer), colorectal cancer screening, a Pap test (to check for cervical cancer), and screening for osteoporosis. Genetic testing can also be performed to screen for mutations that cause genetic disorders or predisposition to certain diseases such as breast or ovarian cancer.
The Tiger Athletic scope of practice involves the responsibility of interviewing potential clients to gather pertinent information regarding their personal health, lifestyle and exercise readiness. This is a vital mechanism instrumental in appraising health status and developing comprehensive programs of exercise to safely and effectively meet the participants individual objectives.
We are a health and fitness company whose modern approach is based on an individualised approach to assessments, motivation, education and coaching of clients for maximum health and aesthetic benefit. We use the client consultation and health appraisal process to design safe and effective exercise programs and provide you with the guidance to help you achieve your personal goals. Recognizing our area of expertise as strength and conditioning professionals we refer you to other health care professionals when appropriate.
The primary principle underlying the client consultation and health appraisal process is to screen participants for risk factors and symptoms of chronic cardiovascular, pulmonary, metabolic and orthopaedic diseases to optimise safety during exercise testing and participation. Assessing a client’s health status and stratifying risk is our basis for exercise program design and referral to healthcare professionals.
Obesity and being overweight is a major risk factor for a wide variety of conditions including cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, certain cancers, and type 2 diabetes. To prevent obesity, it is recommended that individuals adhere to a consistent exercise regimen as well as a nutritious and balanced diet.
A healthy individual should aim for acquiring 10% of their energy from proteins, 15-20% from fat, and over 50% from complex carbohydrates, while avoiding alcohol as well as foods high in fat, salt, and sugar. Sedentary adults should aim for at least half an hour of moderate-level daily physical activity and eventually increase to include at least 20 minutes of intense exercise, three times a week.
Preventive assessments and fitness training offer the safest most effective avenue to mitigate or side step potentially catastrophic medical events. The medical system in South Africa is geared largely toward curing acute symptoms of disease after the fact that they ‘arrive’ in the emergency room rather than screening for symptoms and initiating preventative measures. An ongoing epidemic within South African culture is the prevalence of obesity. Eating healthier and routinely exercising plays a huge role in reducing an individual’s risk for type 2 diabetes.
Tiger Athletic Fitness & Conditioning is a modern, appointment only, strength & conditioning gym in Sandton, offering custom, personal trainer led fitness solutions. Our workouts are based on your health screening and goals. This initial process is instrumental in screening participants for risk factors and symptoms of chronic cardiovascular, pulmonary, metabolic and orthopaedic diseases to optimise safety and benefit during exercise testing and participation.
Three and a half million South Africans (about 6% of the population) suffer from diabetes and there are many more who are undiagnosed. It is estimated that another five million South Africans have pre-diabetes, a condition where insulin resistance causes blood glucose levels to be higher than normal, but not high enough yet to be type 2 diabetes.
The highest prevalence of diabetes is among the Indian population in South Africa (11-13%) as this group has a strong genetic predisposition for diabetes. This is followed by 8-10% in the coloured community, 5-8% among blacks and 4% among whites. 90 to 95 percent of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is among the leading cause of kidney failure, limb amputation, and new-onset blindness in adults.
Tiger Athletic Personal Training offers benefits and results that dieting, and supplements alone just can’t give you. The exercise component of our programs boosts your metabolism and turns your body into a fat blasting furnace, while the benefits of our ‘smart nutrition’ go beyond weight management.
Good nutrition can help reduce the risk of some diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, some cancers, and osteoporosis. Our programs build muscle in the places you want and improves body shape to give you a firm, toned body, which when coupled with smart nutrition safely speeds up the weight loss and strength gain.
Our programs consist of strength & conditioning, healthy eating and portion control – eating the right food in the right quantities at the right times with a weekly weight loss target of half to one and a half kilograms. We keep track of your progress with monthly body fat percentage and girth measurements to show progress and motivate performance.
Tiger Athletic workout plans are based on your consultation and health appraisal, with a lot of variety and progressively harder sessions. Why? Not just to make you stronger and more fit, but to make sure you keep burning fat and toning muscle. When you do a workout repeatedly, it eventually gets easier, which means your body doesn’t have to work as hard and therefore burns fewer calories.
Our motto is “We train the hardest”, therefore each week the workouts evolve to a higher intensity, keeping your body interested and guessing by never doing the same workout twice.
Together changes everything. Let’s workout.
Hiring a certified personal trainer is a sure way to ensure that you get expert knowledge and attention to guide you to your personal wellness goals, identify and develop hidden strengths, address personal weaknesses and learn from past lifestyle behaviour through individualised assessments and custom fitness programs in a modern, private appointment only gym, Tiger Athletic personal training will help you shed the extra weight.
We offer a variety of exercise programs, customisable to overcome different hurdles that you commonly face that stop you from reaching your desired aesthetic, exercise solutions that help you derive real benefit from hiring a certified personal trainer who is invested in your success.
Personalised and in-depth assessments provide you the client, with information that simplifies SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time based) goal setting and as a foundation for your trainer to design efficient and effective exercise programs by revealing a broader perspective of the client. The process and the data collected also assist in identifying potential areas of injury and reasonable starting points for recommended intensities and volumes of exercise based on desired goals and fitness outcomes.
Individualised assesssments help your Tiger Athletic trainer to bring the best possible tailormade fitness solution to our clients. Some of the key reasons for our indepth assessments:
A baseline for future comparisons of improvement or rate of progress.
Identification of strengths and weaknesses that may affect program emphasis on certain aspects.
Assistance in establishing appropriate intensities and volumes of exercise.
Clarification of short, medium and long-term goals.
Identification of areas of potential injury or contraindications prior to program initiation, which may lead to referral to a physician or other health care professionals; and
A record demonstrating prudent judgement and appropriate scope of practice in program design to further avert the risk of injury and ensure success.
At the very beginning, when tailoring our program for your best possible benefit, we take the most important first step with you, by figuring out what internal challenges you face in trying to lead a healthier more productive life. Our programs are flexible enough to include exercises that will be effective in helping you work through these issues by asking questions that identify the root of past failures.
Are conflicts between work and your lifestyle creating divisions that undermine motivation?
Do you need to get to know yourself better?
Do you focus on the end goal or success instead of being mindful of the process?
Does poor prioritisation of your goals in your everyday life hamper progress?
Can you take instruction and advice and apply it to everyday life?
Are you resistant to change? Does this affect your ability to move forward?
Does your moral require a regular boost?
Self-mastery has a multiplier effect on total life performance. An effective mind – body connection can help you achieve incredible results in all spheres of your life. An individual that fails to gel work, play and personal life into a team can cause unnecessary disruption, failed delivery and strategic failure across the board.
In modern life both business and personal, it is almost impossible to avoid being a member of a team. If you’re not on an official team at work, chances are you function within one in one way or another. So, it’s important for your personal and career development to isolate and develop your working strengths and weaknesses.
Strength & conditioning helps provide you with the physical, mental and emotional strength, stability, power, mobility, endurance and flexibility that you need to thrive as you navigate life. You use basic movement patterns like pushing, pulling, hinging, squatting, rotating, carrying and gait patterns (walking and running) every day. Strength & conditioning utilizes exercises that improve movement and thinking proficiency in these primary patterns to give you an edge and enhance your physical and mental performance, so you can achieve your goals in a team setting in the workplace, playing field and home!
Life is unpredictable and unstable. So why would you develop yourself using stable and predictable diets, workouts and self-help aids. No matter what your personal or business target is, audacious your fitness goals seem or how you perceive your physical ability, we treat variety and practical application as critical components of your training to keep you winning!
Tiger Athletic custom fitness solutions challenge the entire mind and body in every plane of motion to perform exercises that improve movement and cognitive skills on the field and in life. We are an appointment only, strength & conditioning gym offering custom, personal trainer led fitness solutions in a modern, private facility in the heart of Sandton. We offer simple, efficient, effective, personal wellness solutions.
Abdominal strength and endurance means much more than carving out your six pack, it means your body is more functional in your daily life, improved sports performance and better physical health. Your abs are part of your core, which includes your pelvic muscles, hips and the muscles that support the spine. Strong, able abs contribute to a healthy core, forming a powerful axis for your whole body.
If your abs are weak, it forces the back muscles to work harder to support your middle, your abdominals act as an anchor for muscles of the mid and lower back. Abdominal strength improves the endurance of the muscles of your back slowing down your rate of fatigue leaving you less vulnerable to strain or injury. Weak abdominals cause your tummy to protrude too far forward and altering your center of gravity, especially when you are overweight, stressing your back and resulting in lower back pain.
Strong abdominals support good posture by helping prop up your spine so it feels more natural to stand tall with your arms and legs in alignment conversely when the abdominals are weak, we slouch because we will be lacking the musculature to support proper alignment. With proper posture, you will look taller, leaner and feel more confident, lessening wear and tear on your spine and avoiding complications such as disc herniation.Primal actions, such as bending down to wash yourself in the shower or to pat your pet can be downright dangerous when you have a weak abdomen. Twisting in the car to reverse, lifting your laptop and even getting up and down out of a chair when your significant other enters the room requires the strength of your core. Injuries often occur during these mundane activities when your back has to bear more than its fair share of the work to complete such tasks.
Strong abdominal muscles fascilitate the stability for action that requires you to twist and rotate whether to catch a ball, swim, jump or run, skills that are sometimes the difference between victory and defeat while also providing the necessary support during recovery and healing from injury.
Abdominal strength and endurance means that you have the added physical capacity to outwork competition. Abdominal endurance helps you minimize wasteful movement from your arms, legs and hips, keeping you efficient and performing optimally when te competition is beginning to fatigue.
Balance is an everyday skill in ordinary life, whether you’re walking on an uneven surface, riding on a bumpy road or catching yourself when you trip, miss a step or slip. Strong abdominals help you avoid that fall that could potentially be a disastrous accident that fractures your hip or loses you key seconds in a timed activity.
Tiger Athletic is a modern, private, appointment only gym in the heart of Sandton. We use a personalised approach to assess, motivate, coach and educate you regards your health and fitness. Our personal trainer designs custom workout programs for you so that you can live life to the fullest.
Abdominal Strength & Endurance is a specialist everyday class we offer. Book your complimetary session, lets trim that waist and tummy!
Fact: we love our sugar and sugary treats. Arb fact: Former US President Ronald Reagan had to have jellybeans on his desk always. Vending machines and even till points almost everywhere feed our cravings for sweets. With South African sales of sugar filled drinks and other sweets soaring and the highest percentage of fat children and adolescents on the planet, we as a nation are addicted to sugar in all its glorious forms.
While sugar is not literally addicting, (scientists long ago proved that people are born with a preference for sweets), this innate desire does not disappear as we grow older. Some people find it impossible to leave the dinner table without dessert; others can’t fathom a day without chocolate. Many women blame hormonal surges for the sweets cravings they get around the same time each month.
Sugar and other sweeteners add calories with few other nutrients and have no doubt helped contribute to our current epidemic of obesity. True, sugar is not alone in promoting obesity, a lack of exercise and excessive calories from poor nutrition habits also contribute.
Sugar has been blamed for everything from diabetes, tooth decay, obesity, and heart disease to disruptive behaviour in the classroom. But sugar by itself will not cause any of these conditions, except for cavities.
A comprehensive review of scientific research, published in the journal Nutrition Research in 1997, showed that sugar is not a direct cause of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, or hyperactivity. A more recent government report concurs that sugar is not by itself linked to any of those conditions. However, too many calories, in any form, can contribute to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
Changes in our behaviour are often attributed to changes in our blood sugar levels. When you consume a meal made up of simple, refined carbohydrates – like a doughnut or a soft drink – the result is a spike in blood sugar. Your body responds to this spike by secreting large amounts of insulin to normalize your blood sugar level. In response to the insulin, your blood sugar level drops quickly, leaving you with a feeling of sluggishness and irritability. When your blood sugar gets too low, hunger reappears, and the roller-coaster ride resumes, that is, if your next meal is also mostly simple carbohydrates. These are the carbohydrates that the latest diet books denounce, not the healthy, fibrous carbohydrates that come from whole fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
At Tiger Athletic, your personal trainer will help you choose these healthy carbohydrates or give you nutritional advice that adds protein or fat to your meal, so your blood sugar will rise and fall more normally without the negative side effects.
When we say we have a sugar addiction, we may mean anything from a mild desire to intense cravings for sweet foods and drinks. Some people go so far as to equate the effects of sugar to a drug, saying it calms them and helps them deal with stress. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Guide Pyramid recommends we limit added sugars in our diet to 12 teaspoons per day, as far back as 2001, the average American ate and drank the equivalent of 31 teaspoons of sugar daily, however, even with these scary numbers, South African children still managed to overtake American kids as the fattest on the planet! We are failing the next generation!
Sugar finds its way into virtually every kind of processed food, from tomato sauce to soups and, especially, soft drinks. One 330ml can of your favourite soft drink contains approximately 10 teaspoons of sugar. As if that is not bad enough, some data suggest that we consume an average of 155 litres of soft drink per person annually. That’s a lot of sugar – and extra calories!
Sugars have 4 calories per gram, or 15 calories per teaspoon. If you want to shave calories, it’s a good idea to limit added sugar in your diet. Sounds simple enough, but what about those hard-to-ignore cravings? Here’s the trick: Gradually decreasing the amount of sugar you eat, and how often you eat it, will help you reduce your desire for sugars while lowering your caloric intake. Old habits are hard to break but our personal trainer will guide you into making small and gradual changes in your eating style will help you break free from your sugar addiction.
Many people, newly diagnosed with diabetes find that after they start eating fewer sweets, foods like fresh fruit taste sweeter and can satisfy their cravings for sweets. Remember, moderation is the key. If you can control the quantity, you will be able to enjoy sweets on occasion.
Here are some tips to help you break the sugar habit:
Book an assessment with a personal trainer at Tiger Athletic and get professional help.
Read the label on all processed foods. Check the amount of sugars and choose products with the least sugar per serving.
Become familiar with sugar terminology. Recognize that all of these are sweeteners: corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, dextrose, honey, molasses, turbinado, and brown sugar.
Keep up with your journal, and use the notes section to document your mood, setting, and activity whenever you feel the urge to eat sweets. Review your notes and look for patterns or triggers that you can alter to help control your sugar intake.
Select one behaviour to change each week. Try satisfying your sweet tooth with a snack-sized chocolate bar instead of a full-sized one. Next week, trade in a soft drink for sparkling water with a splash of fruit juice.
Satisfy your desire for sweets with the natural sweetness of whole fruits or no-sugar-added juices.
Buy unsweetened food and beverages and add small amounts of sweeteners if you need them. Enjoy whole-grain cereal with one teaspoon of sugar instead of presweetened cereals, which contain much more sugar per serving.
Try using less sugar in your coffee or tea. Gradually decrease the amount you use to let your taste buds adapt.
Don’t substitute artificial sweeteners for sugar; this will do little to alter your desire for sweets. Moderate amounts of artificial sweeteners are not unhealthy, but they won’t help you retrain your taste buds.
Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder — and it also intensifies cravings. Allow yourself small portions of sweets on occasion. Try to satisfy your cravings with a piece of sugarless gum. If you totally deny yourself, it will be hard to think about anything else. On the other hand, if you know you are allowed one small treat per day, you will savour every bite.
Quench your thirst with flavoured waters that are calorie-free. Jazz up plain or sparkling water with fresh mint, a slice of lemon, lime, or orange, or a splash of fruit juice.
If you’re a sugar “addict,” kicking the habit will do your body good. Doctors newest nutritional recommendations suggest a balanced diet, low in fat, with a reduced sugar intake, along with regular exercise, as the best way to lose weight and keep it off.
Your Tiger Athletic Weight Loss Program of exercise and good nutritional advice supports these recommendations. It is designed to promote a weight loss of ½ to 1 kilogram per week and to encourage the eating of healthy foods while weaning you from excessive sugar. So, book a trial session, sign up, stick with the plan, follow our tips, and find out just how sweet better health can be!
Tiger Athletic Fitness & Conditioning is a modern, private, appointment only gym in the heart of Sandton. Our personal trainer is a fitness professional who uses a personalised approach to assess, motivate, educate and coach clients regards their health and fitness needs.
Together changes everything. Let’s get you healthy!
SOURCES: Nutrition Research, 1997; vol 17(9). Family Economics and Nutrition Review, Jan. 10, 2002. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, May 1998. Food Review, Winter 2002; vol 25(3). USDA Economic Research Service. USDA Economic Research Service, 1990-1997 Food Consumption Data, April 1999. Clinician Reviews, 2001; vol 13(11). WebMD
A champion lives inside us all, waiting to be unleashed. Tiger Athletic offers an authentic workout experience. Learn kickboxing techniques, and calisthenic training regimens while training with Aubrey online. Get in the best shape of your life in a high-intensity group fitness setting without leaving the comfort of home. Become part of our tight-knit community, and build the strength, confidence, and passion needed to triumph in any fight that life presents.
Start your journey to a healthier, happier more fulfilling life with the ultimate challenge of muscular strength and cardiovascular endurance. Online kickboxing and calisthenic workouts that demand all-out effort, minimal rest, and an elevated heart rate. 40 seconds on, 20 seconds rest, every minute for 40 minutes!
Try our 30-minute body conditioning class with a personal trainer streaming from our modern, private, appointment only strength & conditioning center in the heart of Sandton. Get yourself a stronger, leaner physique with our modern approach to group fitness!
We use online health and fitness assessment to help you set goals and to track your progress. We provide nutritional education and tools that are aligned to your fitness goals. This smart workout is comprised of full-body strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular exercises, using your body and gravity to deliver an exciting, efficient, and effective workout.
This is the only online group training class of its kind, pairing personalized attention from our strength and conditioning coach with the vibe and motivation of group fitness.
We offer classes mornings and evenings throughout the week. Message your personal trainer Aubrey 24/7 or email him on tigerathletic@instructor.net to book your sessions or inquire about this or other programs.
Tiger Athletic Fitness & Conditioning is a private, appointment only strength & conditioning gym in the heart of Sandton. Our personal trainers are health and fitness professionals who use an individualized approach to assess, motivate, educate, and train clients. We design safe, effective, fun exercise solutions for in-person and online personal training clients.
Sit down with your strength & conditioning coach and set some goals, discuss your health history, clearly lay out a program and ask questions. Defining what you want to accomplish and establishing where you are in your wellness journey will determine where you start.
You’re different, so we train differently. You’re unique, your goals are unique, and your situation is unique, so your personal trainer takes the time to get to know you and your unique situation. We want to make sure we fully understand your goals, healthy history, what you’ve done in the past and why you want to become healthier.
Tiger Athletic is a modern, private, appointment only personal trainer gym in Sandton. We offer simple, hard, effective strength and conditioning personal trainer sessions.
Lose weight, gain weight, or just be able want to walk up the stairs without pain. Our programs are tailored to specific needs, goals, and ability. Everyone’s fitness journey has its own Genesis. Regardless of where you are in your journey, together changes everything.
Tiger Athletic Fitness & Conditioning offers Personal Training Programs endowed with benefits and results that dieting and supplementation alone just can’t deliver, boosting metabolism, toning and sculpting your muscles, turning your body into a fat blasting furnace through hard work and dedication hand in hand with ‘smart nutrition’. We do not sell weight loss, we offer a pragmatic health first approach that screens, identifies and mitigates for risk factors and symptoms of chronic cardiovascular, pulmonary, metabolic and orthopaedic diseases to optimise safety during exercise testing and participation.
We define our scope of practice in the personal training profession by characterizing our personal trainers as health and fitness professionals who use an individualised approach to assess, motivate, educate and train clients regarding their health and fitness needs. We design safe and effective exercise programs and provide the guidance to help clients achieve their personal goals. In addition, they respond appropriately in emergency situations. Recognizing their area of expertise, our personal trainers refer clients to other health care professionals when appropriate.
“We train the hardest”, we adhere to the highest standard of preparticipation health appraisal screening. The value of our initial client interview is the first step in the client consultation, to obtain and share essential information with the program delivery process. The ‘initial interview’, is a scheduled appointment intended as a mutual sharing of information intended outcomes of assessing client – trainer compatibility, discussing goals and discussing a client – trainer agreement.
The purpose of the preparticipation health appraisal process is to identify known diseases and positive risk factors associated with coronary artery disease, assess lifestyle factors that may require special considerations, and identify individuals who may require medical referral before starting an exercise program.
The client consultation and health appraisal process is our competitive advantage and is directly in line with the scope of practice of the certified personal trainer, to assess, motivate, educate and refer when necessary. For us to develop custom programs of exercise that will safely and effectively meet your individual objectives, the personal trainer needs to gather pertinent information and documentation that will be used to assess health status, evaluate potential for risk, and refer for medical clearance when necessary.
Tiger Athletic Fitness & Conditioning is as appointment only, strength & conditioning gym offering custom, personal trainer led fitness solutions in a modern, private facility in the heart of Sandton. Your preparticipation health screening and goals are the foundation and corner stone of the efficient, effective 50-minute workouts your personal trainer custom designs for you.
Calisthenics is a smart, scientific approach to weight loss, strength gain and living a more active, fulfilling life. This is the fourth resource in our series on calisthenics, designed so you can work out in the privacy of your home or on location when travelling and can’t attend your sessions with your Tiger Athletic personal trainer without the aid of equipment, a trainer or supplements and begin to understand that you too can get healthy using just your body, the physical environment and a little imagination.
The word calisthenics comes from the ancient Greek words kálos (κάλλος), which means “beauty”, and sthénos (σθένος), meaning “strength”. It is the art of using one’s body weight and qualities of inertia to develop one’s physique. A longstanding urban legend has claimed that the exercise was named after one of its earliest promotors, the Greek historian Callisthenes.
Core exercises primarily involve dynamic and static contraction of the back and abdominal muscles, also aiding with improved balance and overall stability.
Crunch
Start in a supine position on the ground. The shoulders are curled towards the pelvis while the lower back remains flat against the floor. The focus is placed on contracting the abdominal muscles.
Variation
The Crunch It Up places the feet under a stationary object such as a low bed or couch. The arms are crossed over the stomach and the knees bent. Using the abdominal muscles, the torso is brought up just until the arms touch the thighs. The torso is then lowered to the starting position.
The V-Ups starts in a supine position with arms straight out on the ground and parallel to the body. The body is bent at the hips, the torso is raised off the ground and the legs brought to the chest with knees bent. The legs and torso are then lowered until they are just a few inches off the ground, but not touching it.
The Side-V starts on the ground, lying on one side of the body, with the arm closest to the ground stretched out perpendicular to the body. The other arm is bent, and the hand placed behind the head. The torso is raised and the legs, kept straight, are raised until the legs form a 90-degree angle with the torso. The legs and torso are then lowered until they are just a few inches off the ground, but not touching it.
The Jack-Knife starts on the ground, legs stretched out straight and the arms on the ground extended straight up over the head. The chest and legs are simultaneously brought up until the hands touch the feet. The legs and torso are then lowered until they are just a few inches off the ground, but not touching it.
The Bicycle starts on the ground, the hands behind the head. The knee is pulled in toward the chest while the upper body curls up to touch the opposite elbow to the knee. The leg is then straightened, and the exercise performed on the other side. The legs should be suspended off the ground during the exercise.
Muscle Groups
Abdominals
Hyperextension
Start in a prone position on the ground with the arms straight out in front of the body. The arms, legs and upper chest are lifted off the ground, and then slowly lowered back to the ground. This exercise is also known as “Superman’s”.
Variation
The Thumbs-Up starts in the same position, forms two fists with the thumbs pointed straight up, then lifts the head, shoulders and chest off the ground as high as possible.
The Swimmers raises and lowers the opposite leg and arm and alternates sides.
The Pillow Humpers places a towel under the hips and the feet under a stationary object like a low bed or couch. The hands are placed behind the head and the torso is raised off the ground as far as possible.
Muscle Groups
Lower back
Erector spinae
Planche
Start on the ground in a prone position, with the hands at the side of the body by the hips, palm down. The body is held straight while the arms push the body off the floor until the arms are straight. The entire weight of the individual is balanced on the arms. The body is then lowered to the ground.
Muscle Groups
Full Body
Plank
Place the toes and the forearms on the ground, with the elbows underneath the shoulders and the arm bent at a 90-degree angle. This position is maintained for as long as possible.
Variation
Front Plank
Side Plank
Reverse Plank
Static Push Up – simply holds the starting position of a Classic Push Up to failure.
S&M Push Ups – builds on the Static Push Up variant, but opposite legs and arms are lifted from the ground. The position is held to failure before switching sides.
Muscle Groups
Core
Abdominals
Back
Shoulders
Russian Twist
Start by sitting upright on the ground, with arms crossed and knees bent. The feet are lifted off the ground while the torso is twisted so the left elbow can touch the right knee, then twisted in the opposite direction so the right elbow can touch the left knee. The movement is repeated if possible.
Muscle Groups
Abdominals
Intercostal
Obliques
Standing Knee Raises
Start by standing upright, with arms raised out in front of the body. The left knee is brought up as high as possible, held up for a few moments, then lowered to the ground. The right knee is then raised as high as possible, held, then lowered to the ground.
Muscle Groups
Abdominals
Leg Raises
Start in a supine position on the floor, palms on the floor under the lower back or buttocks. The legs are slowly raised to a 45-degree angle with the ground, then slowly lowered to the ground.
The exercise can be increased in difficulty by raising the legs to a 90-degree angle, and not allowing the legs to return fully to the floor between repetitions.
Variation
Flutter Kicks – raise both legs off the ground by several inches, then alternates lifting each leg to the 45-degree position and returning it to its starting position.
Hello Darlings – raise both legs off the ground by several inches, then opens and closes the legs with a horizontal movement.
The Hanging Leg Lift – tart by hanging from a horizontal bar by their hands. The knees are brought slowly up to the chest and then returned to the starting position. The difficulty can be increased by keeping the legs straight as they are raised as high as possible.
Muscle Groups
Abdominals
Hip flexors
Beach Scissors
Begins by lying on the side, one hand propping up the head, both legs kept straight. The upper leg is raised as high as possible, held in the air for a moment, then lowered to the starting position. The difficulty may be increased by propping up the body on one elbow.
Muscle Groups
Hip flexors
Obliques
Hip Ups
Begins by lying on the ground, propped up on one elbow, hip and feet touching the ground. The hips are then raised until the body is in a straight line. The hips are then lowered to the starting position.
Muscle Groups
Obliques
Intercostal
Supine Windshield Wipers
Begin by lying on the ground in a supine position, legs raised in the air at 90 degrees, arms stretched out the sides. The legs are then lowered to the right side by rotating the hips, then brought back to the starting position. The legs are then lowered to the left side, then returned to the starting position.
Variation
Half Windshield Wipers
Full Windshield Wipers
Muscle Groups
Abdominals
Obliques
Intercostal
Yes, No, Maybes
Begin in a supine position on a raised surface, with the head and neck extending off the edge. The head is then moved up and down in a “yes” fashion. The head is then turned from side to side in a “no” fashion. Finally, the head is moved from side to side, bringing each ear to the nearest shoulder in a “maybe” fashion. The exercise may also be performed in a prone position, with the hands placed on the back of the head to provide extra resistance.
Muscle Groups
Neck
Tiger Athletic Fitness & Conditioning uses personal training to assess, motivate, educate and train you in a private, modern appointment only strength and conditioning in the heart of Sandton. Our rigorous pre-participation health appraisal screening process ensures that we design and deliver comprehensive exercise programs that safely and effectively meet your goals. Start your own Tiger Athletic fitness program by booking your initial interview.
Calisthenics is a smart, scientific approach to weight loss, strength gain and living a more active, fulfilling life. This is the third resource in our series on calisthenics, designed so you can workout in privacy of your home or on location when travelling and can’t attend your sessions with your Tiger Athletic personal trainer without the aid of equipment, a trainer or supplements and begin to understand that you too can get healthy using just your body, the physical environment and a little imagination.
Pull body weight exercises use a resistive or static pulling motion to work various muscle groups.
The word calisthenics comes from the ancient Greek words kálos (κάλλος), which means “beauty”, and sthénos (σθένος), meaning “strength”. It is the art of using one’s body weight and qualities of inertia to develop one’s physique. A longstanding urban legend has claimed that the exercise was named after one of its earliest promotors, the Greek historian Callisthenes.
Human Flag
Start by grabbing a vertical object such as a pole or tree trunk, with both hands palms pronated. The body is then lifted into a horizontal position using the abdominal muscles, with the arms remaining as straight as possible.
Muscle Groups
Abdominals (mainly obliques)
Shoulders
Triceps (this is for the pushing down by the lower arm)
Biceps (this is done by the pulling of the upper arm)
Muscle up
Starts with an aggressive standard Pull Up with an overhand grip to chest level, at which point the wrists are rotated forward to permit the elbows and arms to swing above the bar. The arms then push the body up until the arms are straight and the waist is at the level of the bar. The motion is then reversed so the body can be lowered back to the starting position. The transition between the high pull up and the low dip is the most difficult part and emphasizes the trapezius.
Muscle Groups
Deltoids
Trapezius
Erector spinae
Latissimus dorsi
Biceps
Brachialis
Pull Up
The body weight Pull Up is another common indicator of an individual’s general fitness level.
Start by hanging from a bar with the arms extended and the palms facing away from the exerciser. The body is then pulled up using the arms until the elbows are bent and the head is higher than the hands. If the hands are moved closer, more emphasis is placed on the biceps and elbow flexors.
Muscle Groups
Deltoids
Trapezius
Erector spinae
Latissimus dorsi
Biceps
Brachialis
Abdominals
Let Me Ins
Start by facing the outer edge of an open door that has a standard doorknob set. The feet are placed on either side of the door and the door pressed between the feet, the heels directly below the doorknob. The individual then leans back until the arms are straight and bends the knees, so a 90-degree angle is formed between the thighs and back. The body is then pulled toward the door until the chest touches the edge of the door. The thighs and back should remain locked into a 90-degree angle throughout the exercise. The body is then lowered to the starting point.
The exercise can be performed with either a side grip or over-handed grip, which places emphasis on the extensors on the outside of the forearm, or an under-handed grip, which shifts the focus to the flexors on the inside of the forearms.
The difficulty can be modified by moving the feet; moving them forward increases the difficulty while moving the feet back decreases the difficulty. The exercise can also be performed with unilateral movements (one-handed) to increase the difficulty.
Variation
Towel Grip Let Me In
One-Handed Let Me In
Muscle Groups
Latissimus dorsi
Biceps
Forearms
Deltoids
Let Me Ups
Start by lying on the ground in the supine position, and grasps a bar mounted at arm’s length above the chest. The arms are bent to pull the body up to the bar, while the body remains as straight as possible from the ankles to the shoulders. The body is then lowered until the arms are straight.
The exercise may be made less difficult by moving the feet closer to the bar and bending the knees. The exercise may be increased in difficulty by raising the feet onto a raised surface. Performing the exercise with an overhand grip focuses on the extensors on the outside of the forearm, while an underhand grip changes the focus to the flexors on the inside of the forearm.
Muscle Groups
Latissimus dorsi
Biceps
Forearms
Deltoids
Towel Curls
Start in a standing position with the back against a wall. The ends of a bath-sized towel are grasped in each hand, and the towel is looped under the foot of one leg. The towel is pulled upwards with the arms, the elbows locked against the side of the body, while pushing down with the foot to provide resistance. The arms are then lowered slowly as the foot continues to provide resistance until the arms are at the starting position.
The difficulty of the exercise may be modified by providing varying resistance with the foot; the exercise may be made even more difficult by performing it with one hand.
Variation
The Ledge Curl uses a fixed ledge between waist and chest height to provide resistance. The hands are balled into fists and placed under the ledge. Then bend over slowly while pressing up against the bottom of the ledge, then returns slowly to the starting position, maintaining the same level of resistance along the way.
The Isometric Curl uses one hand placed on the wrist of the other hand to provide resistance to the curling motion; the curling arm does not move in this case but instead benefits from the isometric tension of the exercise.
Muscle Groups
Biceps
Forearms
The Claw
Begin by placing the arms in front of the body, open and close the hands and fingers as tightly and as quickly as possible. This exercise is usually performed for many repetitions.
Muscle Groups
Hands
Forearms
Tiger Athletic Fitness & Conditioning uses personal training to assess, motivate, educate and train you in a private, modern appointment only strength and conditioning in the heart of Sandton. Our rigorous pre-participation health appraisal screening process ensures that we design and deliver comprehensive exercise programs that safely and effectively meet your goals. Start your own Tiger Athletic fitness program by booking your initial interview.
Calisthenics is a smart, scientific approach to weight loss, strength gain and living a more active, fulfilling life. This is the second resource in our series on calisthenics, designed so you can workout in privacy of your home or on location when travelling and can’t attend your sessions with your Tiger Athletic personal trainer without the aid of equipment, a trainer or supplements and begin to understand that you too can get healthy using just your body, the physical environment and a little imagination.
The word calisthenics comes from the ancient Greek words kálos (κάλλος), which means “beauty”, and sthénos (σθένος), meaning “strength”. It is the art of using one’s body weight and qualities of inertia to develop one’s physique. A longstanding urban legend has claimed that the exercise was named after one of its earliest promotors, the Greek historian Callisthenes.
Push body weight exercises use a resistive or static pushing motion to work various muscle groups. Most push exercises focus on the pectoral, shoulder, and triceps muscles, but other muscle groups such as the abdominal and back muscles are leveraged to maintain good form during the push exercise.
Bridge
Begin in a sit-up position with the hands positioned by the ears, palms down, fingers facing the legs. Push up with the arms and the back muscles until the body resembles a lowercase ‘n’. The spine must be convex and the limbs straight.
Variation
Inverse Push Ups. Difficulty can be increased by entering the bridge from a standing position and bending backwards in a controlled manner into the bridge.
Muscle Groups
Triceps
Trapezius
Deltoids
Glutes
Lower back
4-Count Bodybuilder
From a standing position, drop to a squat with hands on floor (count 1), thrusts the legs back to a push up position (count 2), returns the legs to the squat position (count 3) and then returns to standing position (count 4).
Variation
The Burpee replaces count 4 with a plyometric squat. Jump before returning to the standing starting position.
The military 8-Count Bodybuilder adds a full push up after count 2 (count 3 and 4) and opens and closes the legs while in push-up position (count 5 and 6).
Muscle Groups
Legs
Abdominals
Shoulders
Dips
Begin with the hands placed on two solid surfaces at or around waist height. The knees are then bent to raise the feet from the ground, and the body is lowered as far as possible using the arms, then raised again.
Muscle Groups
Triceps
Pectorals
Seated Dip
Begin with their feet on the floor, legs out straight, and hands placed on a supporting level surface between knee and waist height. Start with straight arms with the shoulders above the hands, the body is lowered until the arms are bent at a 90-degree angle. The body is then raised to the starting position. Difficulty may be decreased by moving the feet closer to the body. Difficulty may be increased by raising the feet onto a stable surface.
Variation
The Hanging Dip or Parallel Dip requires an apparatus such as a dip bar or two parallel bars (or substitutes such as tree branches or two tables) and the legs are fully raised off the ground, with the individual’s body weight supported by the arms alone.
Muscle Groups
Triceps
Chest
L-sit
Sit with the body in an L-position, the upper body perpendicular to the ground and the legs out straight and parallel to the ground. The hands are placed beside the glutes. The hands and arms then push the entire body, including the legs, upwards off the ground with the legs remaining parallel to the ground. This exercise taxes the muscles through isometric tension.
Variation
The V-Sit variation increases the difficulty by holding the legs higher, angled away from the ground, so the individual’s body forms a ‘V’ shape.
Muscle Groups
Obliques
Rectus Abdominis
Triceps
Quadriceps
Pectorals
Lunge
Stand on flat surface, step forward with one leg and bend down until the front knee is bent at a 90-degree angle. The back-knee bends to almost touch the ground. The front knee should not extend past the front toes to maintain good form. Return to the starting position by pushing back with the front leg and stepping back so both feet are together.
Variation
Back Lunge is performed from the same position, however, step back with the leg until the front knee is bent at a 90-degree angle and the back knee is almost touching the ground.
Iron Mikes, start out in the bottom position of the lunge, perform a plyometric jump and switch leg positions so the landing position is opposite to the starting position.
Walking Lunges do not return the front leg to the starting position, step forward with the back leg to place the feet together.
Muscle Groups
Thigh
Buttocks
Hamstrings
Side Lunges
Start with the feet positioned slightly apart and take a wide step to the side with the left foot, toes pointing slightly outward. As the left foot contacts, the ground, shift your weight to the left so most of your body weight is supported by the left leg. Lower the hips and slide the hips back until the left thigh is parallel with the ground. The back and the head are kept straight throughout the movement. Hold the position for a moment, then raise the body by pushing up with the left leg and move the feet together again. The exercise is then repeated on the right side.
Variation
Difficulty may be increased by performing the Wide Side Lunge variant; start with the feet in a wide stance instead of together, keep the feet in the wide stance throughout the exercise and omit the intermediate step of moving the feet together between repetitions.
Muscle Groups
Quadriceps
Glutes
Hip flexors
Hamstrings
Bear Walk
Place the hands and the feet on the ground, with the head facing the ground, proceed to crawl around for a set distance/time by striding with the arms and legs.
Muscle Groups
Shoulders
Chest
Triceps
Trapezius
Core
Rocking Chairs
Begin in a fully extended plank or push-up position. The body is then pushed slowly forward about six to ten inches, while the arms are kept straight. The body is then returned to the starting position.
Variation
Rocking Chair Press – Increase difficulty by bending the arms and lowering the body until it is close to the floor. The body is then slowly pushed forward and returned to the starting position. The difficulty may be further increased by extending the arms between sets to perform a push-up.
Muscle Groups
Pectorals
Triceps
Deltoids
Core
Shove Offs
Begin by standing in front of an elevated surface with a ledge that will bear the weight your weight. The body is tilted forward with the hands and arms extended and the back and legs held straight. The body can continue to fall forward, and the individual catches their weight on the elevated surface with their hands in a palm-down position and arms bent. The arms are then forcefully extended to push the body back to the upright position. The waist is not bent at any time during the exercise.
Variation
Increase difficulty by selecting a lower surface which decreases the leverage of the arms and moves the centre of gravity forwards towards the hands.
Muscle Groups
Pectorals
Shoulders
Triceps
Mountain Climbers
Begin in a push-up position, with the body in a straight line and elbows locked. The left knee is brought to the chest and the left foot placed on the ground, with the right leg remaining outstretched. Then perform a small hop and switch the position of the feet so that the right knee is brought to the chest, the right foot placed on the ground and the left leg is extended behind the body. The exercise is then repeated, most commonly at a fast pace for a defined length of time.
Muscle Groups
Shoulders
Abdominals
Core
Pec Crawl
Begin in a push-up position on a smooth surface. The body is propelled forward using only the arms which are never bent beyond 90 degrees. The feet are dragged behind you, the body held in a straight line. This exercise is best performed on a smooth floor while wearing socks or with a folder towel placed under the feet.
Muscle Groups
Deltoids
Core
Pectorals
Triceps
Dive Bomber
The feet are placed on the ground just a few inches apart, with the legs held straight. Bend over at the waist and place your hands on the ground a few feet in front of the toes, forming an inverted ‘V’ with the body, the hips forming the vertex of the ‘V’. Swing your chest and shoulders down in an arc, between the hands, so the chest nearly touches the ground. The head and shoulders are curved up in an arc as high as possible, until the back is fully arched, the head is facing forward, and the pelvis is only a few inches off the ground. The motion is then reversed, the chest and shoulders moving through the hands, close to the ground, with the arms pushing the body back to the starting point. The arms should end up straight and in line with the back.
Variation
The Half Dive Bomber stops the movement at the point the chest is between the hands and then reverses the movement to return to the starting position.
The Hindu Dand returns directly to the starting position without bending the arms or arcing the chest and shoulders back through the hands.
Decrease difficulty by moving the feet further apart, or by elevating the hands on a stable surface. The difficulty can be increased by placing only a single leg on the ground at a time.
Muscle Groups
Pectorals
Triceps
Deltoids
Core
Pec Flies
Starts by lying face down on a smooth, hard floor. The legs are placed out straight with the toes on the floor, and the arms out to the sides. Two small towels are placed under the palms. With the arms and body kept straight, the palms are slid together in a controlled manner until the hands are under the shoulders. The hands are then slowly slid apart until the chest is barely touching the floor.
Muscle Groups
Pectorals
Core
Shoulders
Side Triceps Extension
Start by lying down on your right side, body in a straight line. The right hand is placed on the left shoulder, and the left hand is placed palm down on the ground, under the right shoulder, fingers pointing towards the head. The left arm pushes the upper body off the ground until the arm is straight, bending at the waist to keep the lower body on the ground. The body is then lowered to the starting position. The exercise is repeated on the left side to work the right triceps.
Muscle Groups
Triceps
Obliques
Crab Walk
Start by sitting on the ground with the knees bent. Both feet and both palms are placed on the floor. The body is lifted off the floor and you walk like a crab, both forward and backward.
Muscle Groups
Triceps
Core
Hip Raiser
Sit on the ground in an L-position with the back perpendicular to the ground and legs out straight. The palms are placed on the ground beside the hips. The soles of the feet are placed on the ground and the pelvis is lifted off the floor until the knees are bent at a 90-degree angle and the body is straight from the head to the knees, with the face pointed straight up. The position is held for a moment and then the body is returned to the starting position.
Muscle Groups
Triceps
Shoulders
Glutes
Hamstrings
Air Plunges
Begin by lying down on the ground flat on the back, with the arms placed palm-down on the ground. The legs are lifted until they are straight in the air, perpendicular to the ground. The arms are used to push the hips off the ground as high as possible, keeping the legs perpendicular to the ground. The hips are then lowered slowly to the starting position. Lie flat on the back, arms to the side, palms on the ground.
Variation
Increase difficulty by holding the hips in the top position for a few seconds before they are lowered to the ground.
Muscle Groups
Triceps
Lower abdominals
Surface Triceps Extensions
Begin by grasping a stable, waist-level surface such as a couch, railing, table or a horizontal bar. The surface is grasped with an overhand grip, hands shoulder-width apart. The feet are placed back slightly further than a standard push up position. The body is kept straight, while the arms are bent, and the body lowered until the head is below the hands. The body is then raised by pushing up with the arms until the arms are locked out straight. The elbows should be kept pointed straight down throughout the movement.
Variation
Decrease difficulty by grasping a higher surface to move the centre of gravity closer to the body.
Muscle Groups
Triceps
Core
Arm Rotations
Begin by standing and placing the arms straight out and perpendicular with the body. The hands and arms are moved in circles, first forward, then backward, for a selected number of rotations.
Variation
The targeted muscle groups of this exercise can be modified by repositioning the arm and body: making circles with the arms pointed out straight in front of the individual moves the focus to the front deltoids, while bending over and moving the arms up and down instead of in circles emphasizes the rear deltoids.
Muscle Groups
Shoulders
The Roof Is on Fire
Begin in a push up position and performs a single push up. Then the individual will kneel and raise their hands in the air four times as if they are performing an unweighted overhead press. The individual then performs two push ups, then kneels and performs eight unweighted overhead presses. The individual will continue to ladder up in this manner, with the count of unweighted overhead presses equalling four times the number of pushups. When muscle failure is reached, the individual then ladders down with a decreasing number of push ups and a corresponding number of unweighted overhead presses.
Muscle Groups
Shoulders
Triceps
Pectorals
Tiger Athletic Fitness & Conditioning uses personal training to assess, motivate, educate and train you in a private, modern appointment only strength and conditioning in the heart of Sandton. Our rigorous pre-participation health appraisal screening process ensures that we design and deliver comprehensive exercise programs that safely and effectively meet your goals. Start your own Tiger Athletic fitness program by booking your initial interview.
Tiger Athletic is led by a primary mission to teach and develop physical literacy. Calisthenics, is a smart, scientific approach to weight loss, strength gain and living a more active, fulfilling life. Through this series of resources, you can get in touch with your unique physique in the privacy of your home or when travelling you can exercise in the privacy of your accommodation without the aid of equipment, a trainer or expensive supplements and begin to understand that you too can get healthy using just your body, the physical environment and a little imagination.
The word calisthenics comes from the ancient Greek words kálos (κάλλος), which means “beauty”, and sthénos (σθένος), meaning “strength”. It is the art of using one’s body weight and qualities of inertia to develop one’s physique. A longstanding urban legend has claimed that the exercise was named after one of its earliest promotors, the Greek historian Callisthenes.
Calisthenics are exercises consisting of a variety of gross motor movements; often rhythmical and generally without equipment or apparatus (body-weight training), intended to increase physical strength, physical fitness, and flexibility, through movements such as pulling or pushing oneself up, bending, jumping, or swinging, using only one’s body weight for resistance; usually conducted in concert with stretches. When performed dynamically and with variation, calisthenics provide muscular and aerobic conditioning, in addition to improving psychomotor skills such as balance, agility and coordination.
Sports teams and military units often perform leader-directed group calisthenics as a form of synchronized physical training (often including a customized “call and response” routine) to increase group cohesion and discipline. Calisthenics are also popular as a component of physical education in junior and senior schools the world over.
Body weight exercises are strength training exercises that do not require any apparatus; the individual’s own weight provides the resistance for the movement. Movements such as the push-up, the pull-up, and the sit-up are some of the most common body weight exercises.
Advantages
Body weight exercises are the ideal for individuals interested in fitness but do not have access to or interest in using equipment. While some exercises may require some type of equipment, most of body weight exercises require none. For those exercises that do require equipment, common items found in the household are usually sufficient (such as a bath towel for towel curls), or substitutes can usually be improvised (for example, using a horizontal tree branch to perform pull ups). Body weight exercises benefit all age groups.
Most body weight exercises can be progressed or regressed, this progression/regression strategy allows people of all levels of fitness to participate. Some basic methods to increase or decrease the difficulty of a body weight exercise, without adding extra weight, are: changing the amount of leverage in an exercise (such as elevating the feet for a standard push-up, or performing the push-up with knees on the ground), performing the exercise on an unstable platform (such as performing push-ups on a basketball), modifying the range of motion in an exercise (such as squatting to a 45 degree angle rather than a 90 degree angle), incorporating unilateral movements as opposed to bilateral movements (such as performing a one-armed push-up), and adding isometric pauses during the exercise (such as holding for a few seconds at the bottom of a push-up). Gymnasts make extensive use of isometrics by doing much of their training with straight arms (such as iron crosses, levers, and planches). When compared to weight lifting, body weight exercises often require much more flexibility and balance.
Body weight exercises have a far lower risk of injury compared to using free weights and machines due to the absence of an external load that places strain on the muscles and joints. The lower risk of injury is only provided that the athlete/trainee is progressing through the correct progressions and not immediately skipping to strenuous movements that can place undue and possibly harmful stress on ligaments, tendons, and other tissues. Although falling on the head, chest, buttocks, and falling backwards can occur, these are far less harmful injuries than dropping a weight on a body part or having a joint extended beyond its natural range of motion due to a weight being used incorrectly.
Body weight exercises also give the advantage of having minimal bulking and cutting requirements that are normally utilised in free weight and machines training. This is due to bulking bringing extra fat that decreases the performance of body weight exercises, thus body weight exercises not only remove the need for a bulking or cutting phase, but it can help a person retain a low body fat percentage all year round.
Body weight exercises also work several muscle groups at once, due to the lack of isolation and the need of a large majority of muscles to perform a movement properly. For example, in a push up, the body must form a rigid straight line, and the elbow joint must move from a straight angle to the smallest angle possible, and thus the core muscles, chest muscles, triceps, and legs are all involved in ensuring proper, strict form.
Disadvantages
Body weight exercises use the individual’s own weight to provide the resistance for the movement, hence the weight being lifted is never greater than the weight of one’s own body. This can make it difficult to achieve a level of intensity that is near the individual’s one rep maximum, which is desirable for strength training.
Body weight exercises can be increased in intensity by including additional weights (such as wearing a weighted vest or holding a barbell, Kettle Bell, sand bell or plate during a sit up), but this deviates from the general premise that body weight exercises rely solely on the weight of the individual to provide resistance. However, difficulty can be added by changing the leverage, which places more emphasis on specific limbs and muscles, e.g. a one-legged squat works a leg far stronger than a two-legged squat, which not only requires strength but progressing to a one-legged squat builds strength along the way. The same can be seen with one arm pushups, pull ups, and many other exercises. Difficulty can also be added by increasing volume, adding explosiveness to the movements, or slowing down the movement to increase time under tension.
Classes of Exercises
Body weight exercises are generally grouped into four rough classes:
Push, which requires the individual to use pushing movements to direct the body against gravity;
Pull, which requires the practitioner to use pulling to direct the body;
Core, which involves contracting movements of the abdominal and back muscles; and
Legs/Glutes, which involve movements of the legs and glutes to direct the individual’s body against gravity.
Tiger Athletic personal trainers are health and fitness professionals who use an individualised approach to assess, motivate, educate and train you. Our rigorous pre-participation health appraisal screening process ensures that we design and deliver comprehensive exercise programs that safely and effectively meet your goals.
Start your own Tiger Athletic fitness program by booking your initial interview. This is a scheduled appointment intended as a mutual sharing of information with the expected outcomes of assessing client – trainer compatability, discussing goals and developing a a client – trainer agreement.
We stand by the quality of our work. We have no joining or cancellation fees. We let the quality of our assessments, fitness programs, coaching and results be the only reason you keep coming back for more.
Start is a combination of custom, personal training and smart nutrition. 12 weeks of hard work and dedication to devlop the physical literacy and capacities to move your body from unhealthy to healthy and have you feeling stronger, healthier and leaner through gaining control over your weight, reducing your risk of cardiovascular disease, your risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, strengthening your bones and muscles.
The exercise component of Start comprises resistance training and boxing to boost your metabolism causing your body to burn fat while building muscle. Coupled with smart nutrition advice to reduce the risk of lifestyle illnesses, stroke, some cancers, and osteoporosis, you can use Start to safely and effectively lose body fat, get stronger and be leaner, firmer and more functional.
Strength & conditioning and smart nutrition – eating the right food in the right quantities at the right times results in single digit weight week on week weight loss for 12 weeks. We keep track of your p\rogress with body fat percentage and girth measurements.
Tiger Athletic personal training sessions are sport science based, using insight from your health assessment and your goals in the program design. You never do the same workout twice and get to train privately in a modern, appointment only strength and conditioning gym with our personal trainer in the heart of Sandton.
Your personal trainer is a health and fitness professional using an individualised approach to assess, motivate, educate and run your training sessions. Our pre-participation health appraisal screening process ensures that we design and deliver comprehensive exercise programs that safely and effectively meet your fitness and health objectives.
Book your Session #01, let’s discuss your goals and Start!
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